


Lacrimosa Requiem in D Minor 3rd Movement

by IsaacDowney



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Blood, F/M, Heavy Angst, M/M, One Shot, Trauma, Unrequited Love, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24648169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsaacDowney/pseuds/IsaacDowney
Summary: Edelgard stared at the blood on her arm, going down her hand, travelling her axe and finishing in vermilion drops on the battlefield, joining the rain. Her heart jumped in her chest as she looked up at her old school, wondering when it became just that: a battlefield. Guilt assaulted her, making it hard to breath. For a moment there, staring at the corpse of Flayn, she forgot why she ordered the attack.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/Hubert von Vestra, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Linhardt von Hevring/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Lacrimosa Requiem in D Minor 3rd Movement

Edelgard stared at the blood on her arm, going down her hand, travelling her axe and finishing in vermilion drops on the battlefield, joining the rain. Her heart jumped in her chest as she looked up at her old school, wondering when it became just that: a battlefield. Guilt assaulted her, making it hard to breath. For a moment there, staring at the corpse of Flayn, she forgot why she ordered the attack.

“Your Majesty, are you okay?” Hubert's voice spoke up from beside her and he placed a gentle bloodied hand on her shoulder. She jolted and immediately moved away from the touch, face distorted into fear. Hubert looked back in surprise — and then in horror. As if he couldn’t bear the implications — No, no, don’t regret now or I will too.

Pulling herself together, she looked away. "I'm fine." She whispered. "Is everyone okay?"

Hubert turned back to his classmates -friends, maybe he could say after this battle- who were slowly gathering up in the former marketplace.

"Caspar, Ferdinand and Petra are hurt, Dorothea and Bernadetta are taking care of them." He explained. Edelgard nodded and went to talk to some of her commanders to know more about the casualties. A lot of her soldiers were dead, but no matter! They were triumphant. She ordered that they take care of the corpses, bury them, give them an honourable death, but quick, out of my view. 

"What about the corpses' of the enemies, your Majesty? We should probably burn them, that'll be quicker." Flayn’s corpse was still nearby. Seteth, Cyril and Catherine were probably not far either. What about Dimitri and Claude ? Though she knew they couldn’t possibly had been on the battlefield, nausea took over. "Bury them as well." Hearing that, Hubert stared at her. "What ? Don't you have any decency?" She snapped at him and he looked down in shame, quickly apologizing. Holding her head, she slowly made her way back to her friends.

"Are you all alright?" She asked with a fake smile.

"We can't find the professor."

Her smile faltered.

They never found the corpse.

The years went on and she found it difficult to lead the war without Byleth's advices. Even tea time lost its taste without the quiet sound of his laughter. Edelgard found herself dreaming of his eyes more than once, be it night or day, Hubert always staring at her with concern whenever she spaced out.

Speaking of the latter, they grew closer, so much that one night she found herself in his arms, muffling her cries in her best friend's chest. Though he never did like this title he comforted her all the same, without a word.

Despite her friends living with her, she often found herself watching them with the coldness of a monarch.

Petra threw her rage in training, each blow now aiming to kill. Bernadetta's anxiety calmed down, only to be left with empty eyes and an acceptance of this world's cruelty. Caspar's happy smile turned into a forced one. Even Hubert seemed to change, now opening easier to human's emotions, to his own regret. Ferdinand lost his competitive edge and if he kept faking it, it was out of habit rather than out of pride. He had completely lost his spark, was but a tired soldier desperately holding onto his family's name. Back in the day, Dorothea had confessed to Edelgard how her voice, her creativity, only manifested whenever she felt miserable, which was why she had decided to quit the opera all those years ago. So, naturally, Dorothea found herself singing anew.

Linhardt had not changed, wasn’t he the most heartbreaking of them all? He kept rambling about his researches, about his nap time, about how the professor was the only one to understand him. Not as if Byleth would come back soon, but as if he never left. On a Friday’s afternoon, Edelgard heard him talking to himself; or rather to the professor, despite having no one in front of him. It was this Friday's evening that she ended up in Hubert's arms, eyes red and heart breaking a bit more each time she empathized.

It was no surprise that he was the most affected by his disappearance -no, not death- after all, Linhardt was in love. She was pretty sure Byleth had been as well. She used to feel jealous but now she couldn't help but be relieved she wasn't in his shoes.

Or at least she tried to convince herself of that, back that evening in Hubert's arms, when she kissed him. She remembered biting on his lower lip, hands cupping his face with tenderness but too much intensity, like she was going to implode if he didn't do as she wanted. He had grabbed her wrists and pulled away. "Don't be so unfair." He had said, so softly she could have missed it. That night she realized her best friend's feelings, as well as her own. Unfortunately, they were very different.

Edelgard was pretty sure she fell in love with Byleth the day he died. Maybe it was just the selfish, greedy and childish part of her who wanted a love story, no matter what. Maybe it was genuine. The only way she could know the answer, the truth of her heart, would be by Byleth's return. So she hoped for just that.


End file.
